Dos Pueblos Outlasts Santa Barbara in Five-Set Thriller

Tough serving and unwavering belief were key components to a Dos Pueblos victory in a key Channel League rivalry match against Santa Barbara.

The Dons swept the Chargers last time they played, but Dos Pueblos played with a different swagger on its home court and emerged victorious in a five-set thriller 25-12, 15-25, 19-25, 25-19, 16-14 on Tuesday night.

“We came into the match knowing that either we were going to pass really well and that’s going to help us play better or we’re not going to pass and it’s going to be a repeat of what happened when we traveled down to play them a couple weeks ago,” said Dos Pueblos coach Megan O’Carroll. “We did not pass well in that particular match and we lost in three sets. It showed because we weren’t able to run our offense and get anything going.”

On Tuesday the Chargers flipped the script on Santa Barbara by turning up the heat with their serves to keep the Dons off balanced and out of system. Libero Atasha Black led the serving effort and finished with five aces.

“I feel like our defense was so good today, our blocking was so good, everything was so good,” Black said. “ We were doing this game mainly for our seniors tonight. Our last home game will be next Tuesday for senior night so we wanted this win for them.”

After Dos Pueblos dominated set one, Santa Barbara responded in sets two and three behind the all-around play of middle blocker Nicole Schuetz, who finished with a match-high 19 kills. The Dons took a 2-1 set lead and appeared poised to clinch the match in set four after taking a 6-0 lead on a kill by Schuetz.

However, Dos Pueblos responded with a 9-3 run capped off by a Lia Papador kill that tied the score at 9-9. The Set went back and forth as Santa Barbara took a 17-14 lead on back-to-back aces by Tessa De Albergaria. 

The momentum shifted again towards Dos Pueblos by virtue of a long serving run by Black. Her third ace during the set capped off a 7-0 run by the Chargers and increased their lead to 21-17. Dos Pueblos went on to force a fifth and final set on a kill by Jaden Jones.

Dos Pueblos immediately found itself behind and in need of a comeback in set five, as three straight kills by Schuetz to open the set put the Dons ahead 3-0. Dos Pueblos tied the score at 5-5 on an ace by Papador and took a 9-7 lead on a kill by sophomore middle blocker Grace Posey.

A kill by Jones gave Dos Pueblos a 13-12 lead and forced a Santa Barbara timeout. A Santa Barbara serve error gave Dos Pueblos a 15-14 lead and the Chargers clinched the match, 16-14, on a Santa Barbara net violation.

With the Dos Pueblos victory the two teams are now tied for second place in the Channel League at 8-4 with two matches remaining in the regular season.